Jessica Chastain Finds a New Scent for Every Role She Takes On

Jessica Chastain has been ruling red carpets (and silver screens) ever since she stunned audiences with her performance in The Help and her style at the premieres. But, we knew the fair skinned beauty would eventually hit the big-time ever since she played a troubled pregnant neighbor on Veronica Mars — because well, who wasn’t a fabulous guest star on that show? And now, her career is in its prime, landing her first beauty campaign with YSL for their fragrance, Manifesto.

Chastain spoke to WWD about the scent, which will be launching in the US in March of 2013. In order to prepare for a role, she actually finds a scent that she believes her character would wear to help her fill the part. “Every woman, every person to me has their own smell,” Chastain said. She finds the she often discusses which scent will work for which role with her friend Fabrice Penot, the cofounder of Le Labo fragrance.

However, Chastain is not acting for the new YSL campaign, and made it known that the role of “ambassadress” is definitely not something she finds comfortable or something that she is used to.

“For acting, even though I am in my characters, I don’t see it as me. Having Jessica Chastain be the ambassadress of the fragrance — it’s a very vulnerable thing. It’s not something I really thought that I would do before until, of course, Yves Saint Laurent called. If you’re going to do something like this, it’s a very big deal to do it for Yves Saint Laurent. But what it does is it makes you very vulnerable because you don’t have a character to hide behind.”

For the campaign, Chastain was able to play a bit of a role as director Nicolas Winding Refn chose to have her play an artist for the film commercial. “Every person looks at a painting and has their own emotional reaction to it, their own interpretation. It’s the same with perfume. You smell something, you have your own emotional reaction. There are many layers to a painting, many ideas — and the same with a perfume,” said Chastain.

For the latest YSL women’s fragrance, we definitely think Chastain is a great choice — her poise and grace (and undeniable fashion sense) have kept our attention since we first noticed her way back when.

Will you be buying Manifesto when it comes out in March? And, are you in love with Jessica Chastain like we are?